CAREERS 2002
Local employment agency stands out for rapid remployment.
See story in Careers, M etro pages B2, B3
TSurtíanh (©bse
•
Volume XXXII
Number 22
"The City Of Roses"
REVIEW
W A S H IN G TO N — U.S. intelligence
overheard al-Qaeda operatives dis
cussing a m ajor pending terrorist at
tack in the weeks before Sept. 11 and
had agents inside the terror group, but
the intercepts and field reports lacked
detail about where or when a blow
would fall, according to U.S. officials.
Pakistan Says Nukes May Ba
Used, Agrees to Summit
A L M A T Y , Kazakhstan — Pakistani
President Gen. Pervez M usharraf said
that possessing nuclear weapons im
plies there are circumstances under
w hich they w ill be used, but said it is
irresponsible fo r a leader to discuss
such things. He also said he was w illin g
to meet w ith Indian Prime M inister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee to defuse the crisis
between the tw o nations.
Catholics Want Priests Removed
Weeks o f efforts by Roman Catholic
leaders to show they’re responding to
the church’ s sexual abuse crisis have
had no impact on Catholic opinion:
M ost U.S. Catholics say leaders are
doing “a bad jo b ,” and nearly 80%
demand no tolerance fo r abusive
priests.
Lawsuits Accuse
Airlines of Profiling
W A S H IN G T O N — Five men who say
they were barred from airline flights
because they appeared to be Arabs w ill
sue four airlines, their lawyers said. The
lawsuits accuse the airlines o f discrim i
nation unrelated to security, the Am eri
can C iv il Liberties Union says.
Final Goodbye at Ground Zero
N E W Y O R K — Hundreds o f relatives
o f people lost on Sept. 11 joined hands
at the site o f the W orld Trade Center as
those h it hardest by terrorism sought
solace at an interfaith memorial cer
emony marking the end o f the recovery
effort.
WMto H o u m Han Would Create
Palestinian State
W A S H IN G T O N — The United States
is w orking on a M iddle East peace
proposal that would include creating
an independent Palestinian state, se
nior administration officials said. Such
apian would go a step ftirther than the
previous U.S. position, which was
merely to endorse the idea.
Nuclear Fear*
Spur Evacuation Plan
Wednesday
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
U.8. Had Agents Inside Al-Qaeda
4
June 05,2002
Janitors
Plead
for Jobs
School Board’s June
10 vote will decide
custodians’ fate
by D avid P lechl
T he P ortland O bserver
The first thing you notice when you
walk into head custodian Dan Strong’s
boiler room at Astor Middle School in
north Portland are the floors. They are
immaculately painted and buffed with
obvious pride to a glossy blue finish.
Most everything in the room has re
ceived this kind o f attention to detail.
Cans o f WD40 are lined up like soldiers
awaiting orders. Everything is in its place
and there’s a place for everything.
“I’ve invested a lot o f my own money
in this boiler room,” Strong says, “not
because I had to, I just wanted everything
to be perfect.”
Strong is one o f 330 Local 140 union-
represented custodians that would lose
their j obs if a plan to use contract labor for
janitorial services is approved June 10 by
the Portland School Board.
The district expects the move will shave
$4.5 million from a projected $36 million
shortfall for the upcoming school year.
A union counter proposal to keep the
workforce that slices nearly $2 million in
job compensation and benefits, has been
rejected by the board.
Ken Cropper, the political organizer for
Local 140, accuses the board o f acting
irresponsibly, believing it does not fully
understand the varied responsibilities o f
the janitors.
“It would be a huge mistake to let this
resource go,” Cropper said. “These guys
are far beyond just cleaners."
The janitors also work closely with
food service workers who are employed
under the same union. O f the food service
employees, Strong says, “We make their
operation function.”
The janitors are even called to work
alongside the Portland Fire Marshall and
Portland Police. Strong recalls a recent
incident where a bank robbery took place
ju st blocks from Astor. He was called to
lock the school down and wait for word
Dan Strong, head custodian at Astor Middle School in north Portland, argues that the safety of students would suffer if
the school district decides to use a private company to replace the district's custodian workforce.
range from approximately $24,000 to
from police to open the school back up.
$40,000 a year, with minority representa
During extreme cold weather, janitors
tion
at a steady 25 percent.
may be required to keep the school warm
Cropper
contends the proposed cuts
24 hours a day to keep pipes from freezing.
are
part
o
f
a
much broader issue dealing
“You have to be there to spot a prob
with the state try
lem ,” Strong says.
ing to do aw ay
"We play many roles.
with
many o f its
S o m etim es w e ’re
m id d le -in c o m e
c o u n se lo rs, o th e r
public sector jobs.
times we gotta be the
Under the little
teacher.”
known, “Products
Many o f the cus
o f Disabled Indi
todians have worked
v id u a ls L aw ” ,
for the school district
government agen
— Ken Cropper, political _
for years. Two thirds
cies are obliged to
organizer for Local 140. A
o f them have 10 years
give priority to
experience. One fifth
contract work by
have over 20 years on
non-profit organizations that employ sub
the job. In some cases, two or three gen
stantial amounts o f the disabled.
erations have been gainfully employed.
So far, Portland H a b ita tio n Center
For many, the jobs have also been a
appears to have the edge over smaller
step into the middle class. Current wages
It would be a huge
mistake to let this
resource go. These guys
are fa r beyond just
cleaners.
There are
similarities between
the police sketch
used to help find a
rape and murder
suspect and the
defendant.
M l** Russia Named Mis* Universe
SAN JU AN , Puerto Rico — Oxana
Fedorova o f Russia won the 2002 Miss
Universe crow n, w earing a w hite
evening gown and telling a roaring
audience that she blushes when she
says the wrong thing.
J
riiswnc low
Interest rates on most government-
backed student loans w ill fall to 4.06%
from 3 .99% on July 1, based on a recent
auction o f three-month Treasury bills.
The 4.06% rate would be the lowest in
the history o f the loan program.
continued ' y f on page AS
Suspect Charged in Teen’s Murder, Other Rapes
As border tensions heighten between
nuclear powers Pakistan and India, a
U.S. government team is in India to plan
the possible evacuation o f 1,100 U.S.
troops and up to 63,000 U.S. citizens
from both countries.
Student Loan Rate*
bidders for the custodial work in Portland’s
schools. PHC offers low wage jobs to
primarily disabled workers.
PHC’s knowledge ofthedistrict's boiler
operations has been called into question
by the union. Cropper doubts a low wage,
contracted workforce that’s unfamiliar
with the boilers can safely maintain the
equipment as the union has done.
Each school has a unique boiler. They
can be touchy and dangerous under the
supervision o f someone who isn’t famil
iar with the subtleties o f their operation.
Cropper brought up cases in other parts
o f the country where explosions have
occurred because those in charge were
not adequately trained.
“Fortunately we haven’t had any acci
dents,” he said, “because we have had
very capable people.”
Ladon Stephens
Melissa Bittler
( A P ) - Portland Police have charged
a suspect in the rape and m urder o f 14-
year-old M elissa Bittler, a northeast
Portland girl who was found dead in the
backyard o f a neighbor’s home last
December.
Ladon Andre Stephens, 33, o f north
east Portland, was arrested April 29 after
a woman in her early 20s identified him as
the man who raped her, said police chief
Mark Kroeker.
Subsequent DNA analysis, which was
returned from the Oregon Crime Lab las,
Wednesday, linked Stephens to Bittler’s
murder on Dec. 13.
Stephens will also be charged with
four other rapes, three o f which hap
pened in 1997 and involved teenage
girls walking to or from schools in north
and northeast neighborhoods, K roekef
said.
“ I want to appeal to anyone who may
have been affected by him to now come
forward,” Kroeker said at a press confer
ence with Bittler's parents, Mary and
Tom, at his side.
Melissa Bittler had been headed to
school on Dec. 13 from her home in the
Wilshire neighborhood, bu, never made
it to the bus.
“It’s been a very tough five months,”
Tom Bittler said. “This doesn’t bring her
back, but it keeps an ugly person off the
streets.”
In 1990, Stephens served the first o f
three consecutive six-year prison terms
after trying to abduc, three young girls a,
gunpoint. He was sentenced before state-
mandated guidelines took effect and was
released in 1996.
Northwest Conference on Slavery Reparations Saturday
Representatives from Portland and
ther northw est cities will meet in
entralia, Wash. Saturday, June 8, to dis
usa reparations for black slavery.
The National Reparations Convention
ommittee, Northwest Region, will host
ie conference.
Emphasis w ill be placed on the in-
I
volvement o f the clergy and elected offi
cials in the reparations movement.
Organizers are calling on black church
leaders and public officials to play impor
tant roles and assume clear responsibilities
as the reparations agenda continues to
unfold on national and global fom 'onts
Other items o f interest before t’ ■m'1
will be proposals related to reparations in
the state Legislatures o f Oregon and
Washington. A national rally on the is
sue, scheduled for Aug. 17 in W ashing
ton, D.C., will also be discussed.
Organizations participating will include
The National Reparations Convention,
the National Black United Front and the
National Coalition o f Blacks for Repara
tions in America.
Saturday‘s Northwest Task Force Lead
ership Conference on Reparations will
take place at the The Inn a, Centralia, 702
Harrison Ave. from 10a.m. to 4 p.m. For
additional information, call 503-679-5410
or206-723-0865.
I